Wednesday, 1 July 2009

I suppose before I embark on any discussion of this new Clannad OVA, I should mention two things: Firstly, the previous Tomoyo After OVA was perhaps the pinnacle of the Clannad franchise for me (yes, I am a sucker for Tomoyo) and secondly, after Nagisa's death in After Story I was really rooting for Tomoya to end up with Kyou for a short period of time. With that in mind, surely I should love the concept of this OVA?

Rather oddly given its title, Kyou doesn't feature quite as much as you might expect - Indeed, the episode opens with Kyou looking morose and staring out of the window at a rain-filled sky while her younger sister Ryou confesses to Tomoya, who is himself unsure of what to say but somewhat reluctantly accepts her feelings (if only, you feel, to see what happens).

So, Ryou and Tomoya start dating, but things start to fall apart when a chance meeting between Tomoya and Kyou almost leads to some kissing practice between the two (possibly the momst cliched thing to happen in an episode of anime ever, but never mind); the rumours which follow on at school from this lead Kyou to rashly (and falsely) confess to Sunohara, a state of affairs which inadvertently leads to Tomoya finding out Kyou's true feelings. Thus, the Kyou/Ryou/Tomoya love triangle ebbs and flows before moving on towards its inevitable happy ending for the "featured girl" of the OVA.

I have to confess that, as much as I thought the ending to this OVA was really sweet, I far preferred Tomoyo's "alternate reality" to Kyou's as an overall offering - There was a real strength to that episode that seems lacking here, leaving this OVA to go through the motions somewhat without ever stepping out of the comfort zone of the typical romantic drama that it portrays. Not that it's all bad by any means - We get to see a more rounded version of both Fujibayashi sisters than we ever saw in the Clannad series proper, with Ryou in particular exhibiting some sibling rivalry and jealousy that you might never have expected from her, while Kyou's weaker side really comes to the fore here. It's that part of the "alternate reality" here (coupled with a few beautifully realised scenes) which caught my interest the most, doing its part to raise an otherwise utterly average attempt at placating Clannad's Kyou-loving fans towards claiming a place as a worthwhile part of the franchise as a whole.

8 comments:

Crazy Dave
said...

Not sure if you have played the VN but if haven't, from what I have read of your review it follows it fairly good. Kyou's route was the only route I have actually done and it was a while ago but i remember that you first have to date Ryou and I definately remember the kissing scene as well as her confessing to sunohara.

They did follow the VN story pretty closely, but they also left out quite a bit of dialogues and scenes that made this arc much stronger in VN compared to this OVA episode.

Kyou's arc is too long to fit in one episode, so for someone who has played through the VN, this episode felt too rushed.

One of the reasons Tomoyo's one episode OVA worked much better is that her story (becoming the student council president and saving those trees) was already developed fairly well in the first series of Clannad, while the Fujibayashi twin arc was barely touched.

KyoAni knows Kyou's popularity and they should've covered Kyou's story in at least two episodes rather than this condensed version.

Finally got around to watching this episode and man do I feel cheated. I mean don't get me wrong more Kyou is alwasy great, but comparing the ova to the VN one can not help be feel underwhelmed. They completley skipped over the necklace/jewerly scene as well as the photobooth scene. Also the whole rain scene seemed kindof out of place time wise. should have definatly spilt it into two ep's each focusing on one of the sisters. ok rant is done xD.